


Waiting For The Sun

by Lunasticks



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Bonding, Post-Canon, Post-Super Dangan Ronpa 2, Super Dangan Ronpa 2 Spoilers, Survival, Trust
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-19
Updated: 2019-10-19
Packaged: 2020-12-24 08:38:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21096578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunasticks/pseuds/Lunasticks
Summary: Hajime, Kazuichi, Sonia, Fuyuhiko and Akane were the survivors. They defeated The Ultimate Despair, broke out of the Neo World Program, and woke up in the real world, ready to leave the island behind once and for all, with help from Makoto Naegi and The Future Foundation. What they did not expect was for The Future Foundation to have given up on them, stranding them on the island, completely isolated from the outside world. With no means of communication, they are forced to find a way to keep living on the island, as they wait for their fellow classmates to wake up.In a situation this dire, it's going to take more than hope to survive.





	Waiting For The Sun

Hajime’s eyes fluttered vividly as he drifted into consciousness. His vision was dark and blurry, and nothing seemed to come into focus. His mind wasn’t fully with him, he felt tired and his body seemed heavier than usual. His eyes slowly closed again, and he slipped back into unconsciousness.

For just a few seconds, Hajime had been awake. While not enough for him to become fully conscious, it was still enough to trigger the monitoring system next to his pod. After making sure it wouldn’t harm him in any way, an electric jolt was sent through Hajime, in an attempt to wake him up. As if being brought back to life by a defibrillator, Hajime’s body shook violently for a short moment, and his eyes opened once again. Once again, his vision was dark and blurry, but he could feel more of his mind being with him now than before.

He slowly processed the information he was getting from his senses – he seemed to be lying face-up on a soft surface, with some kind of pillow supporting his head. He could feel something in and around his right arm but couldn’t move it. He tried moving his other arm, to no avail. He managed to nudge his legs slightly but couldn’t fully move them either. He was effectively stuck, forced to stay lying down. This didn’t help with the increasing headache, which was slowly going from being an annoyance to being very painful.

Hajime’s eyes began to open more, and his vision got clearer. Above him was a thick, semi-transparent green sheet of glass, only a few centimetres from his where body laid. It was hard to make out anything past it, but from what he could tell, the ceiling was very high up, suggesting the room was rather large in size. The thing on his arm seemed like a hi-tech, futuristic device. He had no idea what it could be, apart from that it might have been the thing that woke him up. Hajime also took notice of his clothes – a plain white shirt and pants combo, both of which were incredibly soft. A red light seemed to occasionally flash throughout the room, in a manner that reminded Hajime of an alarm or a siren.

The silence in the room suddenly broke, as Hajime heard a door open, along with a couple of voices. Hajime listened carefully but couldn’t make out what anyone was saying. There were currently two voices arguing with each other. He swore that he’d heard them somewhere before.

From his pod, Hajime saw figures hovering over him, but once again, he couldn’t make out exactly who they were. The ambiguity of everything was getting to Hajime. He couldn’t move, so he couldn’t get out. He couldn’t hear or see them properly, so he couldn’t figure out who they were. And as his mind was already in the state of trying to fully wake up, Hajime started panicking. With all his might, he attempted to move his arms and legs, but it was no use. After struggling for a few seconds, which lead to the voices on the other side of the glass getting louder and more frantic, Hajime gave up and slumped down into the soft fabric of the bed. He felt utterly exhausted, both physically and mentally.

Without warning, the glass sheet above him started to raise, breaking the seal between him and the outside world. He could instantly hear the voices more clearly now.

“Alright, it’s open! Kazuichi, get ready!”

A female voice, and again, one he could swear he had heard before. Kazuichi, that name too seemed to ring a bell… He felt so close to remembering... So infuriatingly close… He could feel his head starting to ache, even worse than before.

“Alright, the lid is almost off…”

The glass sheet had raised itself to a point, where it didn’t block out the harsh whiteness of the ceiling lights. Despite desperately not wanting to, Hajime was forced to close his eyes and grit his teeth. His only clue as to what was going around him was now the conversation taking place between the three people standing over him.

“Alright, Kazuichi, how are his vitals?”

“Heartbeat’s normal, there don’t seem to be anything unusual over here.”

The second voice Hajime heard was that of a boy, which once again sounded painfully familiar.

“You got the glasses?”

“One moment Sonia…”

Hajime heard someone rummaging through a drawer.

“Here.”

“Alright, Hajime? Lift your head, we’re going to put these glasses on you, they’ll help block the light.”

Hajime instinctively nodded before lifting his head up. He felt a pair of glasses grace his cheek, and sliding into place, resting on his ears and nose.

“They’re on. You can open your eyes, now…”

Carefully, Hajime opened his eyes. The room looked darker, and the light didn’t burn into his eyes as it did before. Still laying down, Hajime scanned his surroundings. Thick, black cables were hanging from the ceiling, which led into future-like technology, the likes of which Hajime had never seen. However, the most striking thing Hajime immediately noticed were the faces of the two people, now all hovering above him, observing him. Immediately, he couldn’t help but be drawn to the most noticeable of them, a boy with spiky pink hair and shark-like teeth. On the other side of the pod stood a much plainer looking girl, with long blonde hair. Hajime blinked a few times, as his brain struggled to make the connections between these people and his foggy memories.

The two standing above him looked at each other, as if not knowing exactly what their next step would be. A few seconds of silence passed before the girl carefully spoke up:

“Hajime… Do you remember me?”

She leaned forward, giving Hajime a better view of her. He could see the top of her clothes now, and the bow stuck in her hair. As she did, the pink-haired boy did the same, albeit with more energy.

“Of course, he remembers us! You wouldn’t forget your pal Kazuichi, right?”

Their faces, voices, expressions, it all rang a bell, somewhere deep inside of his mind. Hajime’s eyes went between the two of them. Long haired blonde girl. Spiked, pink hair guy. Blonde girl, pink hair, blonde girl, pink hair…

And suddenly, it all clicked.

“Y-You guys…”

For the first time since waking up, Hajime spoke out loud.

* * *

It hadn’t felt like a long time had passed since they were in the NEO World Program. Now that everything had come back to Hajime, he realized that since he had been unconscious, it barely felt like any time had passed from when he and his friends exited the NEO World Program, to him waking up here. That didn’t change how he felt about seeing his friends again, all alive and well. And by the looks of their expression, they were happy to have him back as well.

“Alright! Hajime’s woken up!” said Kazuichi, seemingly full of energy, as usual.

Hajime smiled at him. “It’s good to see you again.” His voice was still weak, and his head still hurt, but he didn’t care. He was speaking to Kazuichi once again in the real world. They made it.

“Akane and Fuyuhiko are going to be so happy to see you as well!”

Hajime turned to Sonia. “Akane and Fuyuhiko are awake too?”

Sonia beamed as she smiled back at Hajime. “Yep! Akane’s recovering in a room by herself. She was the last person to wake up before you. Fuyuhiko’s probably walking around by himself somewhere.”

Hajime sighed in relief. “Hah… I’m glad you’re all here. I really missed you.”

“We missed you too, Hajime. We’re happy to see you alive and well.” replied Sonia. She turned around, and Hajime could hear something sliding along the floor. Sonia then shifted her stance, and it became clear to him that she had grabbed a chair to sit down. Kazuichi did the same shortly after.

“So… I’m guessing you have a lot of questions…” said Sonia.

Hajime nodded, tugging at his shirt. “Yeah. There’s… My mind, there’s a lot going through it right now.”

Sonia raised herself from her seat, reached out and put her hand on his shoulder. “Take all the time you need.” Hajime looked her in the eyes, smiling. Something about Sonia always seemed to calm him down, no matter the situation. Her eyes, her smile, it was like they reached out to Hajime and reassured him that everything would be fine. He nodded in response, and Sonia returned to her seat.

Hajime noticed Kazuichi eyeing over her as she sat down, a faint smile subtlety visible. While not completely sure, Hajime thought it looked like there was something almost melancholic about his smile. He wondered if that was true, or if he’d just imagined it.

“Oh, actually, we should probably…” Sonia quickly got up once again, breaking Hajime’s train of thought. She walked over and pushed a button on the side of the pod. Hajime could feel a slight vibration in the area around his back, as the front end of the surface he was lying on slowly lifted itself up. “Aaand… there you go.” Hajime felt the rising come to a sudden stop, and he was now in a position halfway between sitting upright and lying down. He could more easily look to the side now, and the strain on his neck wasn’t as bad as before. Hajime replied with a quick “Thank you.” as Sonia retook her seat once again.

For the first time, Hajime could see nearly the entirety of the room. As he had suspected, the room was rather large. There were cables and flickering lights everywhere, giving the room a cold, sci-fi vibe, as if he had just woken up on an indescribable spaceship. What struck Hajime the most was the futuristic pods scattered around the room in a circle, one of which was his own. Just like his, a thick, green sheet of glass was placed on top, creating a human sized area in which to store a person. Besides his own, four of the pods were open, indicating where the four fellow survivors woke up. And in the other pods were…

“Sonia was the first to wake up.”

Kazuichi, who had been silent for some time now, decided to speak up, after slightly adjusting his position in the chair. Hajime noted a hint of seriousness in his voice, the usual goofy personality being absent. Of course, Hajime had occasionally seen hints of Kazuichi’s serious side before, but it still felt strange whenever it happened. “I was after her. According to her, it was only about half an hour after she woke up herself.” Hajime turned to look at Sonia, who nodded, confirming the statement, before continuing the story. “I… hesitate to say that I panicked when Kazuichi woke up. I didn’t know what to do, I was all alone. Thankfully, once he got out, we were two minds to discuss our situation. In fact, I must say I’m impressed by your ability to get calm so quickly!”

Hajime noticed Kazuichi’s face getting slightly redder, but other than no, there was no visible reaction to Sonia’s compliment. He also suspected that Kazuichi probably wouldn’t have gotten calm quickly if it wasn’t for her being the one who helped him out – the thought made him chuckle slightly.

Kazuichi shook his head. “Anyways, third was Fuyuhiko, followed by Akane, and-“

“Can I ask a question?” interrupted Hajime.

“Sure, go ahead.” replied Kazuichi.

“I can’t even move my arms or my legs right now… How did you guys manage to get out without anyone else around?”

Kazuichi paused for a second. He turned to look at Sonia, who in turn, stared right back. Both were searching for the right words, it would seem. It took some time before Sonia attempted at an answer.

“Well… The thing is…” Sonia seemed almost afraid to say any more. She seemed nervous, as if he would somehow dislike her answer. Hajime couldn’t figure out why. Looking as if she was carefully picking her next words, Sonia continued.

“Me, Kazuichi, Fuyuhiko and Akane… We weren’t feeling like that when we woke up. I mean, we felt sluggish, of course, but… we could move. We could get up.” Her smile vanished as she turned her face away from Hajime, afraid to look him in the eyes.

Hajime didn’t understand. “What? What do you mean?” He felt his body tense, a feeling of uneasiness spreading through his body.

Sonia went silent for what felt like an eternity. He didn’t like this. The earlier comfort of being around his friends had suddenly been replaced with a feeling of dread over what was to come next. His eyes darted back and forth between Sonia and Kazuichi. None of them looked like they wanted to explain the reason why. To Hajime, this could only mean one thing.

The reason was something he didn’t want to hear.

Abruptly, Sonia took a deep breath. She turned to face Hajime, leaning forward on her chair to get closer to him while still sitting down, and looked him straight in the eyes.

“Promise me you’ll remain calm.” Sonia spoke directly and seriously.

Abruptly, she got up and walked to the edge of the room. Hajime hadn’t noticed it earlier, but an old, worn down backpack was pushed up against the wall of the room. Sonia bent down, looked through the bag and picked up an item. She quickly walked the short distance back to the bed and, instead of sitting down, stood directly next to Hajime, holding the item by her side. Because of its odd design, it took a bit of thinking on Hajime’s part to work out what exactly the object was. Although as soon as he figured it out, he couldn’t see it as anything else.

What Sonia was holding, was a handheld mirror. Crudely designed, and not in top condition, but a functional mirror nonetheless.

Hajime wasn’t sure how to react. It felt like there were thousands of questions swarming inside his mind, all fighting amongst each other to be the one he’d ask.

In the end he didn’t have to wait long. Sonia looked at Kazuichi and nodded. After he nodded back, Sonia raised the mirror up to Hajime’s face without warning.

Hajime didn’t notice anything immediately. Then, he noticed the eyes. Hajime hadn’t looked in a mirror in a long time, so he wasn’t sure of what exactly his eye colour was. It hadn’t been something easily identifiable, like blue eyes, they were more greenish, greyish. Hard to pinpoint exactly. But in the mirror, it wasn’t his eyes looking back at him. The eyes in the mirror were pure red, unlike anything he’d ever seen before. It was like they were burning into him. He couldn’t process it properly. It wasn’t as if they were just out of place or slightly different, they were completely, and utterly wrong.

It was just plain wrong.

Then, as if a trigger had gone off, he noticed the other thing. And just as quickly he saw it, he wished he’d never noticed it.

His brown hair and trademark ahoge were gone. In its place was long, dark hair, seemingly extending down to his back, perhaps even further than that. A chill went through Hajime. To Hajime, it resembled a group of black snakes, emerging from his scalp, and slithering down his body, clinging tightly to him as they did so. It looked so otherworldly, so disturbing…

It had to be artificial.

Hajime screamed, his body shaking as he frantically attempted to move his weakened arms and legs. He could feel his heartrate and breathing increase as he went into panic. Sonia quickly dropped the mirror and grabbed his shoulders, pushing against the mattress and forcing him to look her in the eyes.

“Hajime! Look at me!”

Hajime froze, looking into Sonia’s eyes. His heart felt like it was going to burst. His instinct was to scream again, to go back into a panic. But as he stared into Sonia’s eyes, he felt more and more in control of his body, and of himself. Sonia slowly released her grip, letting him sink back into the bed. She seemed very careful not to take her eyes off him, making sure to be within arms reach of him should he go into a panic again. Once she was sure that Hajime wasn’t going to do anything again, she slowly staggered backwards, slumping into her chair.

“S-… Sorry…” said Hajime with a weak voice, still recovering from his outburst.

“You… You promised to be calm…” said Sonia, gasping for air. Hajime guessed she’d been holding her breath as he was screaming. He felt even worse about it now.

“I… I don’t know, I just… I…” Hajime couldn’t finish his sentence. He didn’t know what to say. “I… I’m sorry…”

“Izuru Kamakura.”

A voice suddenly sounded throughout the room. Hajime, Sonia and Kazuichi all immediately turned their heads towards the entrance, to where the sound was coming from. A figure was leaning against the doorway. A few features stuck out – a short black hat for one. The most noteworthy thing, however, was the fact that this person was wearing a black eyepatch, covering the right eye. The detail was incredibly unique, that only one person came to mind.

The person in the entranceway was Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu. How long he’d been listening, neither Hajime nor the other two seemed to know.

“That’s why you’re weaker than us. They didn’t want to take any chances.”

He pushed himself away from the doorway, slowly walking towards the bed as the other three followed him with their eyes. He stopped at the foot-end of Hajime’s pod, in-between Sonia and Kazuichi.

“That thing, around your arm? That too is a safety measure. None of us had something like that.”

Everyone besides Fuyuhiko was shocked into silence. Out of nowhere, Hajime suddenly had all his questions answered, just like that. Fuyuhiko just appeared out of thin air and broke the news that neither Kazuichi nor Sonia wanted to. And he did it like it was nothing.

Hajime’s eyes wandered down to his right arm. The metal-looking wristband thing was still stuck to him. A glaring symbol of who he had become. Izuru Kamakura. The Ultimate Hope. Hajime had willingly turned himself into what he was right now. But the Hajime lying on the bed right now, the Hajime that had survived an entire killing game and the Hajime who had accepted this transformation were two different people. His memory of becoming Izuru had long since been erased. Not even escaping from the simulation had brought those memories back again. He just had to live with the fact that another version of him, had decided that he was now Izuru, and there was not a thing to be done about it.

“All these measures were taken against you. They felt a need to make sure to protect themselves from you.” continued Fuyuhiko. His face was turned away from Hajime, so there was no telling what he was looking like right now. Hajime felt uncomfortable, he really wanted to be able to see the look on his face. He really just wanted to see his face. To see Fuyuhiko, to try and look at him directly. “That means they considered you a danger. And if that’s the case…” Fuyuhiko paused, taking a single step away from Hajime’s bed.

“There’s no reason why we shouldn’t do the same.”

Hajime’s eyes widened. He could feel his body tense up. “What?!”

Sonia quickly got up and approached Fuyuhiko. “Alright, let’s not get too-“

“Don’t fuck with me!” Fuyuhiko abruptly interrupted her, causing her to take a step back. “This isn’t a situation where we can afford to take risks!”

Kazuichi popped out of his chair, screaming back at the gangster. “Hajime isn’t a risk! He’s the one who brought us back in the first place!”

Fuyuhiko faced Kazuichi, pointing over at the pod containing Hajime whilst screaming in his face. “Look at him! Take a good fucking look! The black hair, the red eyes... Look at them and tell me you’re perfectly okay with being in the same room as him!”

Souda turned his head towards Hajime, seemingly scanning up and down, comparing his appearance to what Fuyuhiko had just said. His expression was one, Hajime couldn’t exactly pick out. He wished that Kazuichi would look at him the same way he usually did. Instead, it soon became painfully clear that Fuyuhiko’s words had affected him. Kazuichi, although trying his best to hide it from both Hajime and Fuyuhiko, looked conflicted. He didn’t fully trust him.

Kazuichi hestitated for a moment before giving his reply. “He’s… he’s still Hajime! I know he is, I trust him, I-“

“You hestitated.” responded Fuyuhiko. His words hit the mechanic hard, who could only grit his teeth in response.

Sonia butted in again. “Fuyuhiko, stop this right now!” She walked steadily towards him and placed a hand on his shoulder. The gangster quickly raised his arm, shaking off Sonia’s hold on him. “Let go of me!” Her face turned pale as she stepped back. Hajime thought she looked like as if she’d seen a ghost. She was visibly frightened, she was fearing Fuyuhiko. She looked like she was about to break into tears.

And that was the absolute last straw for him.

“Fuyuhiko!” screamed Hajime. “Listen to me! I’m not Kamakura! Kamakura is gone!”

Fuyuhiko still didn’t turn to face him. He didn’t even physically react to what Hajime was saying. He simply stood there, at the foot end of the pod, refusing to turn around and look at him. Hajime was enraged. Why was Fuyuhiko doing this? What purpose could it possibly serve to make everyone around him paranoid and distrusting of himself?

Fuyuhiko went silent for several seconds. The others all held their breaths. Then, he turned around. He walked, slowly, around the bed, closer to Hajime, his eyes pointed downwards the entire time. He came to a stop right next to Hajime. Suddenly, his head shot up, and for the very first time, Hajime could see all of his face.

Fuyuhiko’s face was red and strained. Tears were filling up his only visible eye, running down his cheek. He looked sad, angry, defeated, determined, pained, every emotion seemed to be present at one time. Time stood still as their eyes locked. Hajime couldn’t say anything. He didn’t know what to say, what he could say right now. All he could do was stare and soak up every single emotion.

Fuyuhiko opened his mouth, but quickly shut it. Without warning he spun around and went straight over to Kazuichi. His right hand went into his front pocket, and fished out a small, blue USB-drive.

“Here.”

Fuyuhiko extended his arm, offering the USB to Kazuichi, who hesitantly reached out and took it. Fuyuhiko immediately headed for the door.

“There’s a video on there. Play it.”

Sonia, Kazuichi and Hajime all silently watched, as Fuyuhiko opened the door and stepped through it. Just as it was slamming shut behind him, his voice sounded one last time.

“I can’t take any more chances. I’m sorry.”

Just as suddenly as he had appeared, Fuyuhiko had left.

Everyone turned to look at the USB-drive. It didn’t seem like anything special, just your ordinary black memory stick that you’d find at any office. However, everyone was getting increasingly worried about what it’s content could possibly be.

“He… He wasn’t like that earlier today.” said Sonia quietly. Hajime briefly looked at her before looking back at the USB-drive. What she said had just confirmed a thought that he’d had in his head ever since Fuyuhiko gave it to Kazuichi.

Whatever was on that thing, that was what made Fuyuhiko react that way. Hajime felt anxious. There was probably no avoiding having to view what was on it. As much as he didn’t want to.

Sonia’s voice sounded again. “I don’t think I have seen this before… Do we have any way of playing it?” She turned towards Kazuichi.

“Well…” Kazuichi sounded insecure. Like Hajime, it seemed as if he had doubts about wanting to see the contents. The mechanic got out of his chair and walked towards a desk in the corner of the room. From Hajime’s perspective, it was hard to make out exactly what was on the desk, but whatever it was, it was some high-tech computer stuff that he wouldn’t have known about anyway. Kazuichi quickly returned, holding what seemed like a laptop. He sat down, the computer placed on his lap.

“I was tinkering with this thing earlier. Thought I could dig up some information or get access to the internet or something like that. In the end, I couldn’t do nothing with it.” Kazuichi held up the USB-drive in front of his face, as if studying it closely. “But it’ll probably still play whatever’s on this thing.” The USB-drive went into the computer, as Sonia and Hajime let the mechanic tinker with the laptop uninterrupted. The only audible thing right now, was the clacking of the keyboard and the occasional mouse click.

“Alright… aaand… there.”

Kazuichi turned the computer around. A play button was visible in the middle of the screen. Whatever was on this thing, it was definitely a video of some sorts. Sonia got out of her chair and stood next to Hajime, so they could all see clearly. Kazuichi’s hand hovered above one of the keys. He hesitated for just a moment before pressing down.

An image appeared on the screen. It was a rather simple scene, just a man in a chair. The background immediately stood out to Hajime. Computers, cables, the subtle green light emitting from off-screen… It was the exact same room as they were in. The man too, felt instantly familiar to Hajime. In a sense, he looked a lot like himself. Brown hair, jacket, overall pretty plain, not too outstanding. All except for the fact that from the mans hair extended a pointy ahoge. It took Hajime a second to remember, but once he did, there was no doubt at all about who the man was.

“Hello there. I am Makoto Naegi, member of the Future Foundation and… well, I suppose, one of the people in charge of you, the 77th class of Hope’s Peak Academy. You probably remember me, but if you don’t, there, that’s who I am.”

At first, Hajime was extremely happy to see Makoto again. But he very quickly noticed that there was something off about him in the video. Within the NEO World Program, Makoto had been fearless, putting his own life on the line to travel in the simulation to help them. Although his appearance didn’t show much of it, Hajime knew that Makoto was determined and reliable.

The Makoto in the video seemed anything but that. He looked tired, he sat with his elbows digging into his legs, with his head resting on the back of his hands. His expression seemed sad, as if struggling to uphold the smile he had on his face. He hadn’t looked into the camera at all yet, in fact, he seemed to be actively avoiding looking directly into it. Hajime couldn’t stop thinking about it as the video continued.

“If you’re watching this video… Well, I don’t know which one of you are… But I’m glad you’re here. I’m glad you’re alive. I really am. All this time, I never gave up my hope for you.”

Makoto let out a seemingly forced short laugh.

“The others too. Asahina, Kyoko, Yasuhiro, even Byakuya. None of them ever lost hope that you would wake up one day. After getting out of the NEO World Program, we waited. The higher-ups of the Future Foundation told us to leave, almost every single day. And yet, we stayed. We had to prove them wrong. We had to hold on to our hope…”

Makoto paused for what felt like an uncomfortable amount of time.

“And that’s why… Why it pains me so much that I have to make this video.”

A shiver went down Hajime’s back. While he hadn’t even the faintest idea of what Makoto would say next, he knew it wouldn’t be good.

“We were… eventually given a time limit by the Future Foundation. One year. Twelve months for just one of you to wake up. When that time was up, we were to return home, no questions asked. We thought we could make it. We sincerely hoped we were able to do it. Yet, time passed… and nothing happened. Not even a small sign of consciousness. And that brought us to today. Our day of departure. We have pleaded, we begged to stay, but in the end, we can’t do anything. Everyone’s going today. Because you’re watching this video, it means you’re finally awake. However…”

For the very first time, Makoto looked straight down the lens, teary-eyed and red in the face. Hajime felt as if he was looking straight through him.

“You’re going to be by yourself. The Future Foundation has removed all forms of communication, as they still see you as a massive security risk. I can’t tell you how much time has passed, and I might never be able to. I might… I might not even be around anymore…”

A tear spilled from Makoto’s eye. Everyone watching turned to look at each other, but it was clear that no-one could find the right words to say. The voice coming from the screen was the only thing breaking the otherwise complete silence in the room.

“I deeply regret having to leave you behind. Please understand that this… this wasn’t what we wanted. We fought, we fought so incredibly hard, and… and we couldn’t do it. We’re all so sorry.”

Makoto quickly brought his sleeve to his face to wipe a tear.

“What you need to do now is survive. I have faith that you’ll be able to find some way to leave the island. I’m going to cling to that hope until the day we see each other again. I know we will.”

Makoto slowly got out of his chair, standing just in front of it, before proceeding to bow towards the camera. He maintained his pose for a few seconds before standing straight again.

“Don’t ever lose hope.”

Having said his final message, the video abruptly cut out. Soon thereafter, only the slight noises from the laptop could be heard.

Hajime closed his eyes, not wanting to open them again. The more he thought about what he had just heard, the more confused he seemed to make himself. His head began hurting again. His entire body seemed to be in pain. He felt like throwing up. He didn’t want to believe what he’d just seen. He didn’t want to come to terms with it. Didn’t want to accept it.

And yet… there was nothing he could do. The truth was what it was.

The students of Hope Peak’s Academy Class 77 were completely, and utterly, alone.

**Author's Note:**

> whoo boy it's good to be back
> 
> This is a story I worked on a few months ago. I love thinking about Danganronpa 2's post-game, which led to the creation of this story. I'd love to find an excuse to put in best girl Mahiru Koizumi, but I really wanted to focus on the survivors and their relationships for this story.
> 
> I'm not currently planning on continuing this, just wanted to post it here so it wouldn't be kept all to myself. However, if there's demand for more, I'll definitely consider continuing the story!
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
